Thursday, July 31, 2008

Just a couple more things for etsy, still haven't finished painting the bedroom, (sigh) hope to do that Saturday morning (another sigh) I have spent a little time shopping for essentials for college with youngest daughter. Fun. Expensive. School is racing up on me and I am not ready. Not ready to drop her off and turn around and come home without her. Not ready to go back to the daily grind of being a lunch lady. Not ready to see Autumn rolling toward me with winter on her heels. Am I worrying about all this too soon? Probably. But this last month of summer sometimes feels like a week. Over too soon. Back to work. I hope to get plenty of etsy stuff done before my regular job starts. I still haven't weeded the garden yet. Ah well, the butterfly bush and lilies are blooming nonetheless. Thank goodness they don't seen to mind:>) See you soon.

Monday, July 28, 2008

I'm stopping in from my blogging break to show you a couple little birds I have been working on this week. Seems like I just can't get much done this week, so many things swirling around in my head. I did get a couple of these pincushions done just today and plan to work on more this week. These are in my etsy shop right now.

This goldfinch is one of my favorites, I love the real thing, such bright little birds:>) But what really lives in my birdhouse? This little frog! Isn't that the cutest thing? We noticed him up on the ledge of the birdhouse about a week ago and then saw that he was hanging out the doorway to catch a little breeze yesterday. This birdhouse hangs up in my trellis, what a funny little guy! Well, I better get back to work, I'm slowly picking away at my list and hopefully will get it finished this week. I hope you all have a wonderful summer week. Enjoy it while you can, the coundown to school begins soon:>(

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Isn't this photo a hoot? My Mother-in-law found it in a bag full of old, unidentified family photos and gave them to me. This little boy (?) just slays me. Can you imagine being a guy and looking back on this as your childhood photo? Talk about a blow to your manly ego! Anyway, this is just a little note to let you all know that the summer is fading fast and I have got to get some work done around here! I need to finish the bedroom painting job I began in January! GASP! I just have the computer corner to do but the thought of moving all the equipment and files has kept me from finishing. I also want to do some sewing for etsy, plan a birthday party for my daughter (her 18th!) and a baby shower for our cousins long awaited son. It would be nice to fit a little summer fun in that list too, and then there are all the preparations for my youngest going away to college next month. All this to say, I have decided to take some of the pressure off myself as far as posting goes. If something fun and spectacular happens, I'll post, but really, I don't live a fun or spectacular life most of the time and I really need to focus on a few other things. I'll still spend a little time visiting, but I need to get some things done. I dont plan to be gone for more than a week, two tops, but I hope I will be refeshed and have lots to share when I get back. Have a great week (or two) without me! I will still be thinking of you and keeping you in my prayers:>)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Hubby and I have been hearing about this community garage sale set up in a parking structure for a few years now. One of the guys he works with assured him it was worth looking at so we went this morning. This is the line to get in. I'll give them this, the organizers went down the line taking admission ($1) and stamping hands so that when it opened everyone just walked right in. All the shuffling for change and time consuming parts were done in line so when it was time to open it took about 5 minutes for this line to get into the building that you see on the left side of the picture. Not bad.

It was full of pretty things. We thought it was more garage sale and it turned out to be mostly antique dealers. Not horrible prices for the most part but we are all about garage sale prices, you know, cheap, so I didnt buy much. This table full of vintage linens were too steep for me, but you can imagine how I wanted to make them my own. Odds and ends of everything.

Even vintage Christmas. Can't go there, not ready for that yet! I ended up with an embroidered piece that still cost more than I am used to paying but that I think is worth what I paid so I got it. I'll show it to you later:>) I also got a bag of vintage rhinestone buttons for $1. I am such a button floozie!

On another note, last night we had the college kids from church over. Grilled pizza, music, I hung lights in the pergola, just because I love an excuse to do it.

When it got dark they watched The Princess Bride on a projector by the chicken house, surrounded by the most lightning bugs I have seen yet this summer.Great summer fun. Hope you have some great summer fun this weekend too. Now I'm off to bake 24 mini loaves of bread for our churches formal "Senior Banquet", a banquet for the graduating Seniors held this year in a pavilion by a Lake. Ahhh, another beautiful night!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I know you all remember the recipe swap. Well Lallee over at Lallee's Cottage left a comment with the recipe for a quick and easy veggie salad that I tried the other day and it just knocked my socks off! I have eaten this every day for the past 4 days and I cant get enough. This goes in the permanent file. It is super easy, colorful (I can't wait to take it to the next potluck!) healthy, (I have lost 3 pounds since I started eating mostly this for meals, seriously!) crunchy and so good!Here is the recipe:1 can corn drained ( I used frozen, didn't cook it, didnt even thaw it!)1 red pepper diced1 cucumber, seeded and diced,1 tomato, seeded and diced,2 celery sticks dicedMix with creamy italian dressing, or garlic ceasar like I did, or ranch, or whatever creamy dressing you like, it will all be good.

Mix it together. Don't you love how it looks in my Target clearance bowl? I got this salad bowl a couple years ago and I love the bright blue.

Serve with grilled chicken, or just about anything else you can think of. I can't wait until fresh sweet corn and homegrown tomatoes come into season. Oh Lordy, I will be living on this stuff!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

I have been nominated for several awards and a meme in the past week or two, but have been so busy I didn't post them, so here goes.

I was tagged to name five things I love by Karen at A Scrapbook of Inspiration. Well, that is easy! In fact, I have a hard time paring it down to five things. My list may be a bit different than most, but these are things that really make my heart glad.

1. My pergola. My darling husband built this for me for our 25th wedding anniversary and it makes me smile each time I see it. I especially love it this time of year when I have so many beautiful flowers hanging from it and surrounding it. I step out into a garden each time I go out the back door. For parties I hang it full of paper lanterns and I have my wicker setee in it for morning coffee or evening firefly watching:>)

2. Fireflies on a warm summer night. Is there anything more magical? I have loved fireflies since I was a little girl running around outside at night, in my nightgown, capturing the tiny glowing creatures so I could watch them spark on my dresser as I went to sleep. The farm fields where I grew up were so full of them it was like the stars had fallen and were twinkling in the tall grasses just for me.Pure white Lilies against the shed and pink hollyhocks in the back garden3. Flowers. Any kind. Any color. They all make me smile. I am not much of a gardener, my flowers bloom right along with the weeds most of the time. (Too much forced weeding of the garden when I was growing up!) In the winter I dream of when the flowers will bloom again.

4. Packages in the mail. Really, isn't a surprise package just the best day brightener? To think that someone sent a little something just for you and see that box on the porch, well it is just like Christmas. A package in the mail can make my day! This is the latest package I received. A beautiful print, called Cottage of Abundance" from Karen Harvey Cox that I won in her give away. I have another of her works that I am still looking for the right frame for. What a joy to find something so beautiful in the mail!

5. Blogging. I love it. My family can attest to that. I spend far too much time visiting blog friends and "photo styling":>) but it has opened up my world to a lot of kindness, creativity and inspiration. I find wonderful Christian women, artistic kindred spirits, and just wonderful peoplewho share their day to day trials, fun, creativity and so much more. That is my list of five things I love. I am passing this meme on to five women who I would love to know more about:Mary, at Little Red HouseBecky at Sweet Cottage DreamsLallee at Lallee's CottageAlexandra at Silver Bell CottageJan at Jan and Toms PlaceI also received the Arte Y Pico award from Jan and Tom and the Brilliante Weblog Award from Amy at Bunny Rose Cottage, Karen Harvey Cox and Mrs. Rabe at Creekside Cottage! Wow! I'm so flattered and I really appreciate the kudos:>)In the interest of time I am going to cop out on these awards, I appreciate so many of you I just can't choose any more. I love visiting all of you, you know who you are! I just can't stay away, so consider yourself awarded, showered with appreciation. You are all wonderful to know:>)

Friday, July 11, 2008

Oh, I've been sewing up a storm and continue to sew today! I just had to show you this sweet embroidered puppy pillow, made from a 1950's cotton laundry bag. Don't you just love the puppies!?

And this sweet red polka dot with ball fringe and a vintage white on white embroidered and crochet piece added for a little crispness....

And, of course, the sunny pillow from my tea post. More to come too!

I have been tagged with a meme and two awards! I promise I will get to them ladies, but right now the sewing machine beckons, more birds waiting to be hatched, more pillows to be fluffed:>) I'm on a roll, can't stop now, but I'll be back real soon . Hope you all have a great weekend!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Today is Tea at Jan & Toms place, Click on the picture above to go visit everyone who is participating. It is hot and humid here this morning so my tea is iced:>) I decided to have a little tea and time with God in the garden this morning, but I had to get things ready in a snap because it is going to rain!

Today my grandmothers tea pot holds daisies, lilies and lavender from my garden. I threw in a few hosta blooms too, they are pale purple and I have a ton of them this year! I like how they add a little height and have a different form than the daisies.

An old tiered server that I found while garage saling last year holds fresh berries and mini croissants. My iced tea is ganished with more berries and some pineapple. I am enjoying Lipton Vanilla tea right now, it is good hot or iced, but I also like plain black tea with a touch of sugar and lemon, or rooiboos tea.

I whipped up some apricot butter for my croissants. Just a little apricot preserve mixed in with real butter. Oh I am being decadent today. I usually try to watch what I eat better than this. All this butter and bread...you did notice I said "try" up there right? All right, I admit it, if I didn't eat butter and bread I wouldn't have to "try" to be good, *sigh*, well I'm going to enjoy it anyways. Life is short, eat croissants with butter:>)

Here is a sneak peek at something else I have been up to. I made this pillow for my shop. It is made with a vintage hand embroidered piece and new cottage fabrics in pretty bright colors. I am making designs I like in case they don't sell and then I will be able to enjoy them myself:>) Clever huh? I do love this pillow, I 'll have it in my shop in a couple days. Until then, enjoy making the rounds for tea. I have seen some very pretty parties at Jan and Tom's place. Go have a look!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Good Morning! I hope everyone had a spectacular holiday weekend:>) The weather here was perfect, sunny and in the 70's to low 80's. What did I do with my 4th? Absolutely nothing. Saw a few movies, hung around the house and napped. Not exciting but relaxing. I wanted to show you my garden. I know, I know, most of you have had wonderful flowers for a month or more. Our season here in southeast Michigan has been very late, but this weekend it finally all burst into glorious bloom! The pink hollyhocks by the back door. I LOVE hollyhocks, especially the singles. The lilies and daisies by the shed. Let me ask someone, how do you photograph white flowers? Mine always seem to glow so brightly that you can't see the individual petals.

I have a mass of these golden lilies outside the bedroom window, right next to the pink babies breath, lavender and roses.This coral rose is nestled in a bed of english lavender....

along with this pink rose. The pink rose is almost blown but I still think it's beautiful. Do I know my roses names? No. I have very sandy soil and frankly my roses just do not perform as well as most. Maybe my thumb is al little brown, but I replace them quite often. I don't know who they are but I love them anyway:>)

This is yellow loostrife in the front garden. I purchased the plants together at the farmers market and when I did they all looked alike! When they came up the second year one of them came up with varigated leaves.

Did I say my weekend was uneventful? Well, I have to take that back, it wasn't entirely uneventful and I have quite a full week ahead. There are some exciting things happening, and there are some exciting things that might happen. An interesting phone call, a sweet package in the mail, some things I have been working on that I can't wait to show you, and tea at Jan and Tom's place tomorrow:>) It looks like an interesting week ahead here at the cottage. Stay tuned.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

I love the Fourth of July! The parades, the fireworks, the picnics and patriotism. Most of all, I love the red, white and blue of our flag and seeing it floating in the sunshine on so many porches and flagpoles and buntings on white porches. It's the essence of summer and a reminder that we live in a country that may not be perfect, but it is free.I want to thank everyone who participated in the recipe swap this week. There are some fantastic recipes I need to try now, and you should too. Maybe for your Fourth of July party:>) I hope everyone has a fantastic Fourth!Thanks toKari and Kijsafor hosting this fabulous Flag Parade:>)